Ethics Tools

Professional Responsibility by State:

Knowing the Rules of Professional Responsibility can assist in reducing the wrongful prosecutions that convict individuals for crimes they didn’t commit while leaving free those who are guilty. Since wrongful convictions can rarely occur without the misconduct of certain police, prosecutors, expert witnesses, or judges, it is imperative that the accused be aware of the rules that govern attorney and judicial conduct. The rules, by a variety of similar names, are typically referred to as Rules of Professional Conduct.

Each state has its own rules of professional ethics as they pertain to the conduct of the legal community. Those rules of ethics govern the manner in which attorneys, prosecutors and judges are to conduct themselves in and outside the courtroom. With the exception of California, Rules of Professional Conduct of each state are based on the Model Code of Professional Conduct adopted by the American Bar Association (ABA) and may vary in name from state to state. Since each state enacts its own rules through it’s highest court, reference to that state’s rules should be reviewed in any specific instance.

The following links are to the ABA’s Model Rules and each state’s Rules of Professional Conduct. The links are provided by the Cornell University Law School Legal Ethics Library.

“In too many states, judicial elections are becoming political prizefights where partisans and special interests seek to install judges who will answer to them instead of the law and the Constitution.”
–Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

Police Complaints

There are literally thousands of local police departments across the country. Each police department should have an Internal Affairs Division. This site will be expanded to include as many as possible. If your department is not listed here, please forward a link for the benefit of others. Google the local police department and search for Internal Affairs. (You are encouraged to submit links to your local police department by using our Contact Form.)

Judicial Influence

Our liberty at stake

Growing Influence of Business Groups
and Special Interests in State Supreme Court Elections.

Special interest pressure is growing and threatening the fairness and impartiality of Americaâ€™s courts, according to a major new report from the Justice at Stake Campaign and its partners, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and the National Institute for Money in State Politics. At the same time, a new survey conducted by Zogby International for the Committee for Economic Development shows that four out of five business leaders worry that campaign contributions have a major influence on decisions rendered by judges.The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2006 found that television advertising has become a major weapon for groups battling over state high courtsâ€”average television spending hit a record $1.6 million per stateâ€”with pro-business groups accounting for 90 percent of all independent spending on TV ads in high court races.State Supreme Court elections attracted record sums from business interests, a reflection of the importance of state courts in setting corporate damage payments. Campaign finance analysis shows that business gave $2 for every $1 donated by lawyers directly to candidates.Median fund raising by candidates for state high courts also hit a record high of $243,910. In other words, getting to the bench has never been so expensive for so many. Five states set aggregate candidate fund raising records for high court campaigns (AL, KY, GA, OR, WA).

This article originally appeared in The Joyce Foundation web-site at joycefdn.org

Legislative Lookup

Click on the image below to access members of Congress by state or to local a pending bill in the House or Senate.